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It's probably half-endearing (hopefully?) and half-annoying that I think there's no better way to start off the weekend than with art. But you know what I mean! As the chillier part of the year gets into full swing, I think we are all getting cozy in our studios with our art, and for me, nothing...

Matthew Carr refused to use pure white in his drawings, treating his surface with charcoal before he began. ( Gordon , 2006, conté pencil on prepared charcoal paper, 56 1/2 x 44.) As you all might remember, charcoal drawing and I haven't always worked well together. Largely it's been my...

If you have always wanted to do a figure drawing, but weren't sure where to begin, Sarah Park's Drawing Secrets Revealed: Figure Basics will give you the building blocks you need to get started. Based on her online course series by the same name, this video takes you from learning how to see...

Watercolor artist Thomas Schaller achieves convincing and dynamic effects in his skies ( Salisbury Cathedral , watercolor painting). I know it is a bias, but sometimes I can't help thinking that painting skies belongs to a particular realm of watercolor painting . The medium just seems best suited...

One of my unhappiest memories of making art is drawing a really 70s-looking still life that my art teacher set up for us in the sixth grade. I remember being soooo bored and not interested at all in what we were doing until my teacher gave us a challenge to use any of the different shading techniques...

Studies of Heads and Hands by Hans Holbein the Younger, pen-and-ink. We all know that a strong foundation in drawing can make a significant difference in all levels of art making. “When in doubt, go back to your drawing” is the advice I’ve heard from professors, studio instructors,...

Drawing after the sculpture The Cylinder Man by Eliot Goldfinger by Jon deMartin, 2009, pencil drawing. Drawing for Epiphany by Michael Aviano, 2009, charcoal drawing, 39 x 32. Going from "the cylinder man" to a fully-realized figure is a matter of many things, but one is definitely an ability...

Now that traditional representational painting is seeing something of a revival in art galleries, there is a lot of interest among painters in the techniques employed by masters of the oil painting medium. All of us learn from those who have preceded us, and there are so many great painters from which...

Leonardo Da Vinci's drawing, Head of an Angel , 1483. In a previous post, I was telling you about how I decided to take Leonardo Da Vinci for my master when I was first studying art seriously. Choosing a master means taking a close look at great art and great artists, and learning the lessons they...

It's not as if the wall space in my apartment is getting any bigger, but still, I'm always looking at works of art and murmuring, "I know just the place for you..." And for the past several years I've been particularly drawn to works on paper. The mark-making and drawing techniques...

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then a painter needs to get them right when creating a portrait painting . But the "oval, circle, dot" anatomy of the eye that we all first learned as children is far removed from how to give the illusion of a real eye in your work. Here are a few tips...

For many years now, Ann and I have had a running debate about the color green. Specifically, the greens I mix and use in my landscape paintings vs. the greens she mixes for hers. She thinks the greens in my color schemes tend toward the too-blue side and I often find that her greens, especially in foliage...

Looks Like Heaven by John Budicin, 2002, oil painting, 32 x 40. Almost any artist will tell you that there's a certain appeal to working outdoors that can't be found anywhere else. With spring in full swing, many of us have left our studios for our porches, backyards, and beyond. To celebrate...

I want to say a few things about massing. There are a few basic rules in figure drawing that will deliver results, but underlying them all is massing. If you cannot master massing, no matter how much you know of all the other elements of drawing, there will always be something missing. Somehow it just...

Attitude by Patricia Hannaway, 2006, pastel sketch drawing, 21 x 12. Human figure sketching, especially learning how to sketch from a model, is one of the most rewarding ways of practicing art because it can enhance your abilities in ways that are both practical and inspirational. It's practical...